Fears over business rates mount as Britain’s major retailers prepare to form action group January 13, 2019 Some of Britain’s biggest retailers are coming together in an urgent bid to seek business rates relief from the government, Morning Wire has learned. Around 50 major high street names are joining a mass lobbying effort to curb forthcoming rises in their property tax, as profits plunge in the face of falling sales and online [...]
Retail round up: What’s happening on the high street? January 11, 2019 | City Talk Not as bad as it could have been. That’s the general feeling about high street performance over Christmas after major retailers and the supermarkets published their festive figures this week. The British Retail Consortium says that 2018 was the worst Christmas for retails for 10 years but, as ever, the figures show there are winners [...]
Christmas shoppers shunned the high street, but attacking Amazon won’t help January 11, 2019 Between the fierce renewal of the Brexit saga, parliamentary shenanigans, and a particularly chilling cold front (interpret that literally or metaphorically, as you will), the merriness of Christmas feels like a thing of the past. But for the high street, it feels like Christmas never came at all. Reports of retail sales, released yesterday by [...]
Super Thursday: Embattled retailers could learn from the Tesco turnaround plan January 10, 2019 It wasn’t only children who traditionally looked forward to Christmas: time was when Yuletide sales could be guaranteed to give a substantial boost to Britain’s retailers. No longer. A slew of dismal results published today showed Christmas figures sharply down for a number of household names including M&S and Debenhams, in what the British Retail [...]
John Lewis considers slashing staff bonus as it warns on full-year profits January 10, 2019 John Lewis today said it may axe its staff bonus this year as it warned of falling profits, despite a rise in sales over the Christmas period. The department store saw sales increase 1.4 per cent to £2.2bn in the seven weeks to 5 January compared to the same period last year. Like-for-like sales at [...]
Retail sector suffers worst Christmas in a decade as sales stagnate January 10, 2019 The UK retail sector has suffered its worst Christmas in a decade as sales stagnated during the crucial festive period, despite a string of positive updates offering a glimmer of hope. Overall retail sales were flat in December, the lowest level of growth since April and the worst festive performance since 2008, according to figures [...]
John Lewis enjoys sales boost after strong Christmas performance January 8, 2019 John Lewis has doubled down on a positive festive period after reporting double-figure sales growth over the last week. The department store chain said total sales for the week to 5 January were up 11.2 per cent on the same period last year, thanks to its post-Christmas clearance. The figures were driven by soaring menswear [...]
High street faces chilly week ahead as disappointing festive trading updates expected January 6, 2019 High street retailers are expected to be further under the cosh by the end of the week, with a flurry of quarterly trading updates due in the coming days. Troubled department store Marks and Spencer is one of several set to reveal yet another fall in sales over the festive period, according to analysts at [...]
Westfield Stratford and Westfield London boost Christmas shopping footfall January 4, 2019 Westfield London and Stratford City saw record festive footfall this year, helping to dispel fears of retail gloom over the Christmas period. Christmas footfall was up 11 per cent year-on-year with 15.6m visitors visiting the centres from the start of November, the owner of the two shopping centres, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, announced today, while Boxing Day shoppers hit 350,000 [...]
John Lewis ends year on a high as sales are boosted by last-minute Christmas shopping January 2, 2019 John Lewis reported a rise in sales during the last week of the year as shoppers rushed to buy last-minute Christmas gifts and cash in on sales. Total sales for the the department store chain were up 4.5 per cent for the week ending 29 December, compared with the same period last year. The company [...]